First Class Food in Coach

These days, ANY food in coach is a wonder, but good food is most likely not going to happen - certainly not on the airline's dime.

You're most likely accustomed to bringing at least a child's snack or two if you're traveling with children, but what about you? Are you noshing on Cheerios at 30,000 feet? If you travel out of Los Angeles area airports, there are far better options. Skymeals, a meal delivery service that will meet you right at the airport with your food, is changing how you dine in the sky.

Their meals are not inexpensive, but considering what passes for food on planes these days, they're well worth the cost, particularly for long flights (or long waits on tarmacs). A peek at the menu definitely gets the salivary glands watering: you can choose from entrees such as flash seared ahi tuna or shrimp & asparagus farfalle fra diavolo. There's also a nice selection of sandwiches, salads, appetizers and brunches, and even a SkyLight menu for those watching their weight (which we figure in LA is just about everyone).

Best of all: children are included! Yes, the little ones have their own menu, SkyKids, and it's not all junk. While you can never escape chicken fingers (delivered here as "crispy chicken strips"), they come with a healthy side of fresh fruit and broccoli & carrots. The kids' menu is small - 4 selections - but varied enough that you should find something on there that your child will eat. And since the company is actually a catering outfit and not just a delivery service, they'll also take special requests (within reason); if you or your child can't find something on here you like, they can work with you to create a meal you'd prefer.


A SkyKids Meal

Unfortunately, right now Skymeals is only operating in a limited area of California, so unless you live there or are headed there soon, you may not have the opportunity to sample their cuisine. But check back - the company's founders have said in the past that they'd like to expand, and we're hoping they do soon.

Get on the Bus, Gus?

By now most of you will be familiar with the story of the Kulesza family, and if you're not, where have you been? Long story short, blah blah, the Kuleszas were on an AirTran flight in January when their daughter Elly threw a temper tantrum before takeoff and could not be calmed down. She refused to sit in her seat, which prevented the plane from leaving the gate according to federal regulations. Airline personnel finally ordered the family to disembark and left without them.

The Kuleszas were highly upset at being removed from the plane, saying they only needed more time to calm their daughter down. They refused AirTran's appeasement offer of free tickets, saying they'll never fly with them again. AirTran felt that it was fully justified in removing them, saying that the little girl's refusal to sit down was a safety issue that the parents clearly were unable to handle.

If you've been reading us with any regularity - and we hope you have - you know the two main tenets of our luxury travel "belief system." First, children should be allowed to experience some of the luxury and sophistication that their parents aim for when traveling. While we understand and agree that there are some places that should be off-limits for the pure sake of relief, it doesn't follow that all vacations with young ones should center around Disneyworld and theme parks. Parents who have built an appreciation for a certain quality of life should not have their few weeks of vacation time dominated by what Hollywood and Noggin interpret to be of interest to a child.

But lest you think we're being completely selfish, we assure you: we do have our children's interests at heart as well. As a matter of fact, we think that the best way to instill an appreciation for that same quality of life is to offer it to children on a regular basis. Yes, we're aware that, based on age, attention span and interests, some museums may have to get passed up, and some spas and restaurants may have to be saved for later vacations unless you've brought the nanny or a grandparent along or are willing to use the hotel babysitter. But we've found that with careful thought and planning, travel with children can incorporate many high-end establishments in varied destinations. And we've discovered that children will often rise to the occasion and take delight in much of what people assume would bore them or go unnoticed. In short, going outside the Happy Meal box is not only to our benefit, it's to the benefit of our children as well.

However - and this is a big however - we think that our first tenet is extremely dependent on our second tenet. Call it 1A, if you will. On second thought, it should really be the first tenet, because without it the other one is moot. And that is, that children should be well-trained and well-behaved. We would say "when traveling", but to be honest, your hopes of having a well-trained child when traveling are slim to none if he's uncontrollable in day-to-day life. Now, we're not of the old school of thought that says children should be seen and not heard and all that nonsense. But there seems to be a new style of parenting - or non-parenting, if you will - where people are loath to set rules for their children and prepare them to be civil adults by showing them how to be civil children. If your child is kicking the seatback, shrieking, running up and down the aisles, or throwing tantrums, and you either won't or can't get him to stop, then maybe he shouldn't be traveling. We can safely say he shouldn't be traveling to the places we're writing about. But many would say he shouldn't be traveling anywhere.

And that's exactly what is happening. People have risen up across the blogosphere to say that children should not be on airplanes at all. That's the most ridiculous thing we've ever heard, frankly - airplanes stopped being any sort of "privilege" a long time ago. But with bratty behavior as the norm these days, it's no wonder that many people have come to expect the worst when they see a child traveling; they often get it, in spades. And unlike in a restaurant or hotel, there is no escape on a plane.

We're not fearful that banishment will happen on airlines any time soon, but we are afraid that the more poorly-trained children there are, the fewer hotels, resorts and restaurants there will be that welcome the behaving ones with open arms: how do they know when you make your reservation whether your child is a hellion or an angel? To the Kuleszas' credit, they do admit that Elly wasn't behaving very well; they just think that the airline mishandled the situation. And we're not saying they are bad parents - even the best toddler has bad days and meltdowns from being tired, and God help you if it happens while traveling. For that reason, we won't come down on the side of the airline or the Kuleszas on this one: we've seen airline personnel take an unnecessarily combative approach to many situations since 9/11, and we've also seen a frightening dearth of parenting skills in the last few decades. But on the general topic of children and travel, we can't stress it enough: please, please - do yourself and your children a favor and teach them to be considerate of other people. Whether you're visiting Mickey Mouse or Claridge's, there's nothing wrong with knowing how to say please and thank you. With understanding that kicking someone's seat bothers the person in the seat. With comprehending that being loud is offensive and unnecessary in most situations. With knowing that the airplane/airport/restaurant/hotel lobby is not a playground to run amok in. A child who is walking and talking is old enough to start learning these things, and teaching them will enable you to travel with less fear than those who play Russian roulette every time they take their children out in public. And it will earn you the gratitude of travelers - and travel personnel - everywhere.

Private Nurse

No, we don't mean a nanny for the baby.

By now you may have heard about the incident in which a woman who was nursing her baby on an airplane was forced to get off, presumably because she wasn't being discreet enough.

We personally don't know any women who don't try to show some discretion while nursing - okay, maybe a brazen few, but they're the exceptions - but babies have a way of pushing aside whatever is covering their faces, to peer at you in glee as you hurriedly shuffle the cloth - and your mammaries - around. It's no easy feat - what do you use to cover up? The airplane blanket that's been God knows where? Your pashmina, which will undoubtedly slip off just as some teenage boy passes by?

Thankfully there is an answer that keeps your dignity and your sense of fashion intact. Bebe au Lait has a line of nursing covers in fabulous prints: you can either pick one favorite or, like us, go nuts and choose several to coordinate with your wardrobe. (The company used to market these as Hooter Hiders, and still keeps the name around for those who may remember it, but we, for one, appreciate the more upscale branding, since we've never in a million years referred to our own breasts as "hooters".) The covers are stylish, practical and inexpensive. Best of all, the design keeps the cover securely fastened around your neck while allowing you to peek at baby - something that may have been hard to manage when you were smothering her with a blanket...


www.bebeaulait.com
$35

For the Toddler Jetset

We're not going to judge you if you've flown with a baby on your lap instead of in a carseat, but once kiddo reaches age two, you've got to ante up the dollars to get him his own ticket. We don't know about you, but the first time we put D in a seat by herself she didn't look the slightest bit safe - we had visions of her either slipping right under the belt or breaking her neck with whiplash.

Thankfully, we can now feel a little bit more secure when we head for the skies. CARES, an FAA-approved harness for children, is a recent entry on the market and a must-have for those too big for a car seat but too small to be truly protected by a mere seatbelt. According to their website, CARES (which stands for "child aviation restraint system") has been designed for children 1 and older, weighing between 22 and 44 pounds. It fits all economy and business-class seats, and should fit all but the biggest of first class seats as well.

You've probably seen similar devices on the market, but CARES is the first product that uses the five-point harness that defines safety in carseats. More importantly, it's the only product to be approved by the FAA for all aspects of flying. (Other devices are not approved for takeoff and landing.) It's probably a hell of a lot safer than us throwing our hands across D's chest whenever the plane hits a bump, and the $75 pricetag is a small price to pay for her safety and our peace of mind.


www.kidsflysafe.com
$74.95

Passport to Nowhere

We hadn't thought it necessary to post about the recent changes in passport requirements, figuring that as savvy travelers, you were probably well aware of all that you needed to have and do to continue being the global citizens you are. However, in light of our own recent problems renewing our passport, we thought it might be helpful to take you along on our journey to hell - also known as "dealing with the National Passport Information Center."

January 10th - We mail in our passport renewal forms within the 6 week timeframe given as being necessary to turn around a passport. The application specifically asks for upcoming travel plans, so we put down our departure date of 2/25. A niggling thought in our head tells us to go ahead and pay for the expedited service, which would return our passport via Overnight Service in two weeks, but we figure, hey, there's enough time.

We would come to regret this later. Very very much.

January 19th - The NPIC's online status page still shows no signs of our passport being worked on, or even received, so we call. After waiting on hold for 25 minutes, we reach someone who notes that they have received it and it has been forwarded to the processing center in New Hampshire. At this time, we ask if the travel date on our application would be taken into account, and are reasssured that yes, it will be. (This will, of course, turn out to be completely wrong.)

Early February - We check the online status page again; lo and behold, there is an update. Our passport application is in process and will be sent to us via Priority Mail for arrival on or around 2/20. Fabulous.

February 20th - The day comes and goes with no sign of our passport. We know that the status said "on or around", but with it being a short week due to President's Day and our departure in 5 days, we are starting to get a wee bit nervous. We check online again. We now read "on or around 2/24", at which point panic officially sets in. We call the NPIC. We are on hold for ONE AND A HALF HOURS and eventually hang up in both disgust and distress, not to mention that we are going insane hearing the same 5 minute loop of classical music. Their website also allows you to send in an email inquiry, which they say will be responded to within 2 business days, so we send an email as well. (Note: No response is ever received.)

February 21st - We call back just before noon and after a hold time of only 35 minutes, we reach a nice gentleman who confirms that the passport is being WORKED ON (what?) and also mentions that they have no record of any upcoming travel, which nearly sends us into the stratosphere. After explaining that we do indeed have travel plans, which were indicated on the APPLICATION, we're told that he will put in a request to have the passport finished that day and overnighted. He tells us to call back the following day to confirm that those instructions have been received by the office in New Hampshire.

February 22nd - We start calling around 10:45 a.m. and after repeated attempts in which we reach a voice telling us that they are too busy to even put us on hold, we finally succeed at getting into the on-hold queue, which somehow feels like an accomplishment. Twenty minutes later we speak to Kate, who tells us that the passport was finished the night before but that she sees no indication of it going out overnight. She tells us to call back later, which we dread doing. We ask if there is a number or extension we can use that will bypass the hour-long waits - of course the answer is no. We also check the online status again and see an updated delivery date of "on or around 2/26" - one day after our scheduled departure. We would like to threaten to shoot someone (purely to let off steam, you understand) but realize that in a post-9/11 world this will pretty much nullify our chances of getting a US passport in this lifetime and probably the next one too.

1:00 p.m. - We call back the NPIC within an hour of talking to Kate, because we have a long meeting later and don't want to wait until evening when it seems getting through is impossible, even although they are open until midnight. (We would advise you that the best time to reach them seems to be mid-morning except for the fact that reaching them doesn't seem to make one damn bit of a difference one way or the other.) George says he recommends a reissue, and explains that this will invalidate the first passport and make them reissue a new one immediately and send it by FedEx. He shows us where to find a form online that we will need to fill out for the reissue, but rather than just giving us a number to fax it to, it seems he has to take our cell number so that he can forward it to the gerbils in New Hampshire who will then call us and give us the fax number to send it to them, a rather nice demonstration in bureaucracy. We cancel our meeting and wait for our phone call, form in hand.

5:00 pm. - We have been waiting for 4 hours and our grip on the phone resembles rigor mortis. We call NPIC again. The smarmy Rita notes that we've been busy calling all day, and seems to find the whole thing generally amusing. She says that the New Hampshire office has not picked up the request for a reissue yet, which explains why we now have a completely new appreciation for an old country song, "When the Phone Don't Ring You'll Know It's Me". Rita's advice is to gather new photos, proof of upcoming travel, and the form that was supposed to be faxed in, and get thee to the nearest passport agency at 7:30 in the morning, which would require leaving the house by 6:15 a.m. Aside from the fact that we are not even coherent at that hour, we are pregnant and already extremely overwrought, and feel like this last-minute rushing could actually bring our strained and expanding frame to the brink of physical harm - not to mention complete and utter madness. That would certainly kill the vacation, passport or no passport.

We call our travel agency, Expedia, and advise them of the situation. That niggling feeling we'd had earlier had also advised us to insure our trip, and we purchased insurance that allowed us to cancel our trip for any reason. This seems to be the only saving grace, as this move may well save us roughly $3000 in package costs. They instruct us how to cancel the package if necessary (we figure we'll wait until after mail delivery on Saturday just in case) and are nice enough to deposit $100 into our account for a future trip even though none of this is their fault.

We actually start to cry.

Because we do have the option of canceling and rebooking without major financial penalty, we decide to just wait out the passport. Calling the National Passport Information Agency is a joke - most of the time you can't get through at all, and when you are lucky enough to get put on hold, you have to wait for a minimum of 20 minutes. When you finally reach a human, they seem to want to help for the most part, but their efficiency is diminished by the fact that the people who actually have the passport are not reading the messages, but are up there playing around in Second Life, totally unconcerned with those of us in this one. Either that or they are, as we suggested before, not even people but gerbils, a theory we are becoming more convinced of since no one has actually spoken to or received any communication from these so-called "people".

February 23 - Just to see if there are any updates, and to torture ourselves one last time, we make one final call to NPIC. We're on hold for 15 minutes, a record low. The person who answers says our passport went out yesterday. We ask if it was overnighted, he answers that it went out via Priority Mail, the service they normally use. Their website said that two days ago. We wearily mention that our vacation will most likely be shot and he mutters a completely useless "Sorry". We know it's not his fault, but that is the whole problem here - unlike a company that might actually be interested in keeping clients happy, the US government can't be held accountable. They couldn't care less if we lose a few grand on a vacation, and there is no one to hold responsible for the apparent failure to read the travel dates on the renewal application, or the subsequent failures to respond to requests to get the damn thing out a day or two sooner. Because that's all we needed - a day.

It's still not too late. Mail today came and went but there's always tomorrow, our last day before departure, although we are not holding out much hope here. But the lessons here are:

1. If you are renewing your passport and have ANY travel plans within 6-10 weeks, pay for getting your passport expedited so that it arrives within 2 weeks. You do not have to pay an outside agency to do this for you, you can pay the fee yourself along with your renewal fee and forms. You do not even have to show proof of travel (that's usually reserved for those that need passports within 14 days). It will cost you an extra $60 but will save priceless amounts of aggro, not to mention the possible cost of canceling/rebooking your vacation.

2. Insure your trips - always always always. Thank God we got this one right. And check your insurance carefully - not all carriers and packages cover the same thing - many plans only cover cancellation due to illness, death, accident, or some other physical trauma. Our plan, which allows us to cancel for any reason, is a lifesaver, and only cost roughly $50 per person. We have to look at it more carefully - the air may not be reimbursed but rather a credit issued for future travel, which is fine with us since we hope to be in the air within two weeks - but you should always have some sort of insurance, especially if you can already foresee a possible problem with your travel as we did. Don't just assume that everything will be fine.

3. Of course, we'd be negligent if we didn't remind you that as of late January, all US citizens entering the United States by air need a valid US passport. Prior to this, one could travel to many countries in the Caribbean and some in Latin America without a passport: since those countries didn't require a passport but just a birth certificate, you were okay. But remember, it's not the other countries that have changed their requirements, but the US. So although you may be able to get to Panama just showing your birth certificate, you won't be coming back here without a passport.

4. Finally, since we're all about traveling with the kids, yes, all children, regardless of age, need passports too, and both parents will need to appear in person to apply for it (there are exceptions, check here for what those are).

We hope these tips will help you to avoid our drama. We'll let you know if we made it out of here or not.

The Skies are Much Friendlier with One Sky

Monday's NY Times ran an article about One Sky, a company that runs a private jet membership program in which members can either prepay for their flying or pay as they go. While the prices might still be considered steep by some - a one-way from Newark to Tampa in a light jet started at around $5300 - they certainly beat the costs associated with owning your own jet.

The charter airplane market isn't exactly new, but One Sky is making it easier to get a slightly deeper discount by allowing people to reserve an "empty leg" - a return trip for a plane that's only been reserved one-way, similar to a cruise's repositioning trip. Their website has an easy search engine allowing you to look up available empty legs. We won't go into all the nuts and bolts here - the article sums it up quite nicely and One Sky's website is very simple to use - but we thought it was worth a mention. At the prices you might pay for the whole family to fly anyhow, the comfort and convenience of a private jet could well be worth the higher price tag. If you've flown with One Sky, let us know what you think...